What were they supposed to fight with? United States gun control laws made it unlawful for Black people, freedmen or slaves, to own or handle firearms even in their own defense. Any excuse to return Black people to bondage - violate the gun laws and you lose your freedom, if you are unarmed and cannot defend your own life or the life of your family members, they you possibly could lose your lives altogether. Both are fucked up choices and up until less than a year ago states such as California, and New Jersey, Maryland and a handful of others were still imposing these laws on residents however they were created specifically to target Black people and that's how they were applied for the most part.
The racist roots of gun control:
Gun control and its racist roots
I guess you've never heard of the underground railroad huh? Grandma Moses? Harriet Tubman? Your ignorance is appalling and the reason we post American history, policies, case law, etc. and how they have negatively impacted the lives of Black Americans both then and now.
We know none of you care about this stuff, so we have to do the work ourselves. Try learning something for once instead of pedantically labeling everything as fake news simply because you don't possess the brain power to do anything else.